PSYCHEDELIC PRAYERS

after the
TAO TE CHING
by
Timothy Leary
"...But that crucial nongame terrorreverence aweful moment comes...
There comes a time when the ecstatic cry is called for.
At that time, you must be ready to pray.
To go beyond yourself. To contact energy beyond your game.
At that time you must be ready to pray.
When you have lost the need to pray....
Your are a dead man in a world of dead symbols.
Pray for life.
Pray for life."
Timothy Leary
Kumaon Hills,
Almora, India, !965
Millbrook, New York, 1966
I
PRAYERS FOR PREPARATION
HOMAGE TO LAO TSE
I 1 The Guide
I 2 When The Harmony Is Lost
I 3 Life Seed Death
I 4 Let There Be Simple Natural Things
I 5 All Things Pass
I 6 The message Of Posture
I 1
The Guide
In the greatest sessions
One does not know that
there is a guide
In the next best sessions
One praises the guide
It is worse when
One fears the guide
The worst is that
One pays him
If the guide lacks trust
in the people
Then
The trust of the people
will be lacking
The wise guide guards his words
The wise guide sits serenely
When the greatest session is over
The people will say
"It all happened naturally"
or
"It was so simple, we did it
all ourselves."
I 2
When The Harmony Is Lost
When the harmony is lost
Then come the clever discussions and
"Wise men" appear
When the unity is lost
Then come "friends"
When the session is plunged
into disorder
Then there are "doctors"
L S D
(life light love, seed sun son, death daughter dna)
Hold in reverence
This great Symbol of Transformation
And the whole world comes to you
Comes to you without harm, and
Dwells in commonwealth
Dwells in the union of heaven and earth
Offer music.....
Food.....
Wine.....
And the passing guest will stay for a while
But the molecular message
In its passage through the mouth
Is without flavor
It cannot be seen
It cannot be heard
It cannot be exhausted by use
It remains
I 4
Let There Be Simple Natural Things
During The Session
Let there be simple, Natural things
To contact during the sessions
hand woven cloth
uncarved wood
flowers growing things
ancient music
burning fire
a touch of earth
a splash of water
I 3
fruit, good bread, cheese
fermenting wine
candles
temple incense
a warm hand
fish swimming
anything which is over
five hundred years old
Of course it is always best to be
secluded with nature
I 5
All Things Pass
All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night
All things pass
What always changes?
Earth...Sky...thunder...
Mountain...water...
wind...fire lake...
These change
And if these do not last
Do man's vision's last?
Do man's illusions?
During the session
Take things as they come
All things pass
I 6
The Message Of Posture
During the session
Observe your body
Mandala of the universe
Observe your body
Of ancient design
Holy temple of consciousness
Central stage of the oldest drama
Observe its structured wonders
skin
hair
tissue
bone
vein
muscle
net of nerve
Observe its message
Does it merge or does it strain?
Does it rest serene on sacred ground?
Or tilt, propped up by wire and sticks?
On tiptoe one cannot stand for long
Tension retards the flow
Of the session it is said
Superfluous noise and redundant action
Stand out
square, proud, cramped
Against the harmony
Observe the mandala of your body
Part II
THE EXPERIENCE OF ELEMENTAL ENERGY
HOMAGE TO THE ATOM
II 1 That Which Is Called The Tao
II 2 Ethereal Pool
II 3 Jewelled Indifference
II 4 Falling Free
II 5 Sheathing the Self
II 6 Manifestation of the Mystery
II 7 Please Do Not Clutch at the Gossamer Web
II 1
That Which Is Called The Tao
Is Not The Tao
The flow of energy.....
Here.....
It.....
Is.....
Nameless.....
Timeless.....
Speed of light.....
Float.....beyond fear.....
Float.....beyond desire.....
Into.....this Mystery of Mysteries
through this Gate.....of All Wonder
II 2
Ethereal Pool Without Source
Empty bowl of radiance...
Full of universe and star...
Silent.....void
Shimmering...
Ancestor of all things....
Here...
All sharpness.....rounded
All wheels.....glide along.....soft
tracks of light
ethereal pool without source
Preface to life
II 3
Jewelled Indifference
Galactic play
Belted radiance
Lethal spectrum
Restless diamond eye
Solar
So long
So long?
Jewelled Indifference
where's home?
Jewelled Indifference
where am I?
Jewelled Indifference
I want.....to go back
Jewelled Indifference
Help! I don't understand
Jewelled Indifference
Is it all a dream?
Jewelled Indifference
WARNING!
SOLAR SHUTTERS OPENING
LETHAL LOVE RADIATION BEWARE
FATAL UNITY WARNING BLISS FUSION
All right. Who's next?
Good bye now
Glide into fusion
Relentless diamond eye
"The sound man faces the passing
of human generations immune as to
a sacrifice of straw dogs"
There.....we.....go
Good.....
Bye
II 4
Falling Free
The law of Gravity.....Falling Free
Falling Free.....the root of lightness
Repose.....is the root of movement
Stillness.....the master of agitation
Gravity is .....Falling Free
II 5
Sheathing The Self
The play of energy endures
Beyond striving
The play of energy endures
Beyond body
The play of energy endures
Beyond life
Out here
Float timeless
Beyond striving
II 6
The Manifestation Of the Mystery
Gazing, we do not see it
we call it empty space
Listening, we do not hear it
we call it silence or noise
Groping, we do not grasp it
we call it intangible
But here.....
we.....spin through it
Electric, silent, subtle
II 7
Please Do Not Clutch At The Gossamer Web
All in heaven
and
on earth below
Is a crystal fabric
Delicate sacred gossamer web
Grabbing hands shatter it
Watch closely this shimmering
mosaic
Silent.....
Glide in
Harmony
Part III
THE EXPERIENCE OF BIOLOGICAL
(SEEDCELL) ENERGY
HOMAGE TO DNA
III 1 The Serpent Coil of DNA
III 2 Prehistoric Origin of DNA
III 3 Clear Water
III 4 Returning to the Source
III 5 Lao Tse's Mind
III 6 Transfiguration Exercise
III 7 Tree AboveTree Below
III 8 Fourfold Representation
III 9 The Seed Light
III 10 This Is It
III 11 Gate of the Soft Mystery
III 12 The Lesson of Seed
III 1
The Serpent Coil Of DNA
We meet it everywhere
But we do not see its front
We follow it everywhere
But we do not see its back
When we embrace this ancient serpent coil
We are masters of the moment
And we feel no break in the
Curling back to primeval beginnings
This may be called
Unraveling the clue of the life process
III 2
Prehistoric Origins Of DNA
Its rising is not bright
nor its setting dark
Unceasing, continuous
Branching out in roots innumerable
Forever sending forth the serpent coil
of living things
Mysterious as the formless existence
to which it returns
Twisting back
Beyond mind
We say only that it is form from the formless
Life from spiral void
III 3
Clear Water
The seed of mystery
Lies in muddy water
How can we fathom this muddiness?
Water becomes still through stillness
How can we become still?
By moving with the stream
III 4
Returning To The Source Repose
Be empty
Watch quietly while the ten thousand forms
swim into life and return to the source
Do nothing
Return to the source
Deep repose is the sign
That you have reached
The appointed goal
To return to the source is to
discover the eternal law of seed
He who returns to this eternal law is enlightened
Being enlightened he is serene
Being serene he is openhearted
Being openhearted he is beyond social games
Being beyond social games he is in tune with seed
Being in tune with seed he endures
Until the end of his life he is not in peril
III 5
Lao Tse's Mind Becomes Preoccupied
With A Very Difficult Subject
To Describe The Production
Of Material Forms
By The Tao
Is it a dream?
Shadowy
Elusive
Invisible
All things, all images move slowly
Within shimmering nets
Here essence endures
From here all forms emerge
All forms emerge from this second
Back to the ancient beginning
III 6
Transfiguration Exercise
Transfiguration
What was inert.....moves
What was dead.....Lives
What was drab.....radiates
Galactic time has labored to produce
this momentexquisite
See how each part joins the whole
The ancient saying that the isolated part
becomes whole was spoken wisely
Seed flows
All forms glow
Remain quiet
Pulsate
In
Harmony
III 7
The Tree AboveThe Tree Below
What is above is below
What is without is within
What is to come is in the past
Tall...deep...tree...green...branching...leaf
Root...above...below...thrusting...coiling
Sky...earth...stem...root
Soil...air
Seed
Soil...visible
Hidden...breathing...sucking
Bud...ooze...sun...damp
Light...dark...bright...decay...laugh
Tear...vein...rain...mud...branch...root
What is above is below
What is without is within
What is to come is in the past
These wooden carvings displayed in her endless shelves
Await
Within each uncut branch
The carver's knife
III 8
Fourfold Representation Of The Mystery
Before Heaven and Earth
There was something
nebulous....
Tranquil....effortless
Permeating universally
Never tiring
Revolving Soundless
Fusion without mate
It may be regarded as the mother
of all organic forms
Its name is not known nor its language
But it is called the name TAO
The ancient sages to the best of their ability
inventing a description called it "great"
The great TAO
"Great" meansin harmony
In harmony meanstuned in
Tuned in means....going far
Going far means....return
To the harmony
Thusthere are four greatnesses....
The TAO is great
The coil of life is great
The body is great
And man is also designed in this image to be great
There are in existence four great notes
And man is made to be one thereof
Man places himself in harmony with his body
His body tunes itself to the slow unfolding of life
Life flows in harmony with the TAO
Out here you will know that it
all proceeds at the natural tempo
In tune
III 9
The Seed Light
The seed light shines everywhere, left and right
All forms derive life from it
When the bodies are created it does not take
possession
It clothes and feeds the ten thousand things
And does not disturb their illusions
Magical helix...smallest form and
mother of all forms
The living are born, Flourish and disappear
Without knowing their seed creator
Helix of light
In all nature it is true that the wiser, the oldest
and the greater resides in the smaller
This Is It
The seed moves so slowly and serenely
Moment to moment
That it appears inactive
The garden at sunrise breathing
The quiet breath of twilight
Moment to moment to moment
When man is in tune with this blissful rhythm
The ten thousand forms flourish
Without effort
Really!
It is all so simple
Each next moment.....
This is it!
III 11
Gate Of The Soft Mystery
Valley of life
Gate of the Soft Mystery
Beginnings in the lowest place
Gate of the Soft Mystery
Gate of the Dark Woman
Gate of the Soft Mystery
Seed of all living
III 10
Gate of the Soft Mystery
Constantly enduring
gate of the Soft mystery
Use her gently and
Without the touch of pain
III 12
The Lesson Of Seed
The soft overcomes he hard
The small overcomes the large
The gentle survives the strong
The invisible survives the visible
Fish should be left in the deep water
Fire and iron should be kept under ground
seed should be left free to grow.....
in.....
The rhythm of life
Part IV
THE EXPERIENCE OF NEURAL ENERGY
(EXTROCEPTIVE)
HOMAGE TO THE EXTERNAL SENSE ORGANS
IV 1 The retinal Cakra
IV 2 The Auditory Cakra
IV 3 The Touch Cakra
IV 4 The Smell Cakra
IV 5 The Taste Cakra
IV 1
The Retinal Cakra
Open naked eye
Ayeee!
Light....radiant...pulsating...
"I've been blind all my life to this radiance."
Retinal mandala
Swamp mosaic of rods and cones
Light rays hurtle into retina at 186,000 miles a second
My cross scope
Tell a scope
Retinal scripture
THE BLIND MAN'S EYE
recoils at relentless invasion of glittering energy
impersonal bewitched shimmering
mocking, mocking, meye illusions of control
"Too bright! Turn it off! Bring back familiar
gray world of shadow form."
THE SEEER EYE
vibrates to the trembling web of light
` merges with the seen
merges with the scene
slides smiling down retinal whirlpool
slides smiling through central needle point
IV 2
The Auditory Cakra
Uncover lotus membrane
Sound waves sound waves sound waves
Tremble tattoo of impulse
Sympatonic vibrations
Float along liquidfilled canals
THE SINGLE NOTE OF BACH PIANO
BBBBBBBBIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG
collides
trembling meteor of delight
with quivering membrane
fuse
spin
slowly
round eternal note
along network ear tone
down vibration thread
who ear
you are
vibration... string of wire... finger of soloist
IV 3
The Touch Cakra
Extend your
Free nerve endings
Trembling
Fine tendrils
Wove in skin
Fell my finger touch
Soft landing on your creviced surface
Send sense balloon drifting up
through fifty miles of
Spindleweb skin tissue atmosphere
Electric thrill contact
Soar free through million mile blue epidermal space
Of cotton candy
Fragile web of nerve wire
Shuddering fleece of breathless pleasure
IV 4
The Smell Cakra
Sensory landscape
Airweb of smell code
Tangle of odor
Tickertape belts treaming
Breath draught elixir of life
Across the room from you sits a woman
steaming
earthy smell of feet
musk of glands
sexual perfume
soap shampoo reeling
heady mixture of food and drink
exhausts and wastes from internal factories
glide out on bands of volatile gas
merge with her
IV 5
The Taste Cakra
The thin sheath of plexiglass covering your tongue
Is melting
Spongy meadows of red tissue
Stripped raw open
Quivering furrows of barrel bud bombs
Part V
THE EXPERIENCE OF NEURAL ENERGY
(INTROCEPTIVE)
HOMAGE TO THE VISCERAL SENSE ORGANS
V 1 The Eliminative Cakra
V 2 The Sex Cakra
V 3 The Heart Cakra
V 4 The Air Cakra
V 5 The Crown Cakra
V 6 Brief Review of Visceral Cakras
V 7 Hold Fast to the Void
V 8 Take InLet Go
V 1
The Eliminative Cakra
Yellowbrown
Can you float through the universe of your body
and not lose your way?
Can you dissolve softly? Decompose?
Can you rest
dormant seedlight
blurred in moist earth?
Can you drift
singlecelled
in soft tissue swamp?
Can you sink
into your dark
fertile marsh?
Can you dissolve softly? Decompose?
Can you slowly spiral down the great central drain?
Yellow brown
V 2
The Sex Cakra
Rainbow
Can you float through the universe of your body
and not lose your way?
Can you lie quietly
engulfed
in the slippery union
of male and female?
Warm wet dance of generations?
Endless ecstasies of couples?
Can you offer your stamen trembling in the meadow
for the electric penetration of pollen
While birds sing?
Writhe together on the river bank
While birds sing?
Wait softfeathered, quivering, in the thicket
While birds sing?
Can you coil serpentine
While birds sing?
Become two cells merging?
Slide together in molecule embrace?
Can you, murmuring,
Lose
All
Fusing
Rainbow
V 3
The Heart Cakra
Scarlet
Can you float....
through the universe of your body...
.
And not lose your way....?
Can you flow....
with fire blood...
Through each tissued corridor....?
Throb....
To the pulse of life....?
Can you let your heart.....
pump you.....
down long red tunnels....?
Radiate...swell...penetrate...
to the bumpy rhythm?
Can you stream....
Into cell chambers....?
Can you center....
On this heart fire of love....?
Can you let your heart....
Become central pumphouse....
For all human feeling?
Pulse for all love?
Beat for all sorrow?
Throb for all pain?
Thud for all joy?
Can you let it....
Beat for all mankind?
Burst...bleed out...into warm compassion
Flowing...flowing...pulsing...
out...out...out?
Bleed to death
Life...
Blood
Scarlet
V 4
The Air Cakra
Azure blue
Can you float through the universe of your body and not lose your way?
Breathing
Breathing
Can you drift into free air?
Breathing
Breath of life
Aetherial bliss
Inspiration
Can you rise on the trembling vibration
of inhale.....exhale?
Breathing.....breathing
Breath of life
Can you ascend the fragile thread of life
into cloudblue bliss?
Can you spiral up through soft atmosphere
Breathing.....breathing
Catch that exact second between inbreath and outbreath
Just there.....
Can you float beyond life and death?
Azure blue
At that exact second
Now
V 5
The Crown Cakra
Light
Can you float...
Through the universe of your body ...
And not lose your way....?
Can you focus...in your spinal column...the energy from
every center in your body?
earth seed
sexual fusion
heart's fire
breath rising
retinal glitter
sound vibrating
touch quiver
volatile gas
tongue's explosion
Now....
Pull these sensory streams into your brain
Turn on the billioncelled diamond network
Light....light....light....
Incandescence
Solar flare
From every cell in your body
Energy hurtles
Light....life....love....luminous
Into the thousand petalled lotus
of light
V 6
Brief Review Of The Visceral Cakras
Breathing.....
Drift, drift along your body's soft
swampland while warm yellow mud sucks lazily
Breathing.....
Feel each cell in your body intertwine,
merging in wet rainbow serpentcoil grasping orgasm
Breathing.....
Feel the thudding motor of time
pulsing life along the red network
Breathe......
Gently, until you are as warm and soft
as an infant
Breathing.....
Bring fire blood flowing into
the white rooms of your brain
Breathing.....
Radiate golden light into the
four corners of creation
V 7
Hold Fast To The Void
Breathing.....
Notice how this space out here
Between heaven and earth
Is like a bellows
Breathing.....
Always full, always empty
Always full, always empty
Breathing.....
Come in here, go out there
Come in here, go out there
Breathing.....
Silence
Breathing.....
This is no time for talk
Better to hold fast to the void
Breathing
V 8
Take In Let Go
To breathe in
You must first breathe out
Let go
To hold
You must first open your hand
Let go
To be warm
You must first be naked
Let go
Part VI
REENTRY:
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE IMPRINTED WORLD
HOMAGE TO THE SYMBOLIC MIND
VI 1 The Moment of Fullness
VI 2 How to Escape the Trap of Beauty and Goodness
VI 3 For God's SakeFeel Good
VI 4 ReImprinting Using Water As Element
VI 5 The Lesson of Water
VI 6 The Utility of nothing
VI 7 The Innocence of the Sensual
VI 8 What the brain Said to the Mind
VI 9 How to Recognize the TAO Imprint
VI 10 Illustration of a TAO Imprint
VI 11 Keep In Touch
VI 12 Use Your Knowledge of Nature's Law
VI 13 The Conscious Application of Strength
VI 14 Victory Celebration
VI 15 Along the Grain
VI 16 He Who Knows the Center Endures
VI 17 Walk Carefully When You Are Among....
VI 1
The Moment Of Fullness
Grab hold tightly
Let go lightly
The full cup can take no more
The candle burns down
The taut bow must be loosed
The razor edge cannot long endure
Not this moment relived
So..... now
Grab hold tightly
Now.....
Let go lightly
VI 2
How To Escape The Trap Of Beauty And goodness
As you return
Remember
Choose beauty..... so you define ugly
Select good, so you create evil
As you choose your joy, so you design your sorrow
The coin you are now imprinting has two sides
Better to return in the flow of Tao
For indeed
The opposites exist for you alone
Beyond your heads and tails
Dances the unity
All sounds harmonize
All games end in a tie
Your God stands on the pitcher's mound and
nods to his catcher and winds up and
throws a shoulderhigh fast ball
POP!
Right into your Devil's glove.
VI 3
For God's Sake Feel Good
As you return
Remember to choose consciously
Power is the heavy stone wrenched
from your garden of tenderness
Virtue is the heavy stone crushing your innocence
What can be learned
From nature is
Harmony
Therefore
Shun the social
Cuddle the elemental
Avoid angles, lie with the round
Shun plastic, conspire with the seed
Do no good
But
For God's sake
Feel good
And
Nature's order will prevail
VI 4
ReImprinting Using Water As Element
Remember
The flow of water
Liveat the natural level
Fluid
Liveclose to the earth
Fluid
Livegiving life
Fluid
Livefalling free
Fluid
Livein the stream
Fluid
VI 5
The Lesson Of Water
What one values in the game
is the play
Fluid
What one values in the form
is the moment of forming
Fluid
What one values in the house
is the moment of dwelling
Fluid
What one values in the heart
is the beat
Pulsing
What one values in the action
is the timing
Fluid
Indeed
Because you flow like water
You can neither win nor lose
VI 6
The Utility Of Nothing
the nothing at the center of the
thirty spoke wheel....
.
the nothing of the clay vase.....
The nothing within the four walls.....
The goal of the game is to go beyond the game
You lose your mind
To use your head
You lose your mind
To use your head
VI 7
The Innocence Of The Sensual
Name the five colors
shadow the eye
Name the eight notes
muffle the ear
Name the five tastes
coat the tongue
Naming stops the flow
Win the game, lose the play
Let a child's innocence
feed your hungers
VI 8
What The Brain Said To The Mind
'One to me is fame and shame
One to me is loss and gain
One to me is pleasure and pain"
murmured the brain
(looking down with compassionate
curiosity.....
As
A beautiful woman idly
inspects a tiny blemish
on her long smooth flank.....
Looking down with compassionate
curiosity
At the small imprinted chess board
of the mind's external game)
'One to me is fame and shame
One to me is loss and gain
One to me is pleasure and pain"
said the brain
VI 9
How To Recognize The Tao Imprint
He who returns in the flow of TAO
Brings back a mysterious penetration
So subtle
That it is misunderstood
Here is his appearance
Hesitant like one who wades in
a stream at winter
Wary as a man in ambush
Considerate as a welcome guest
Fluid like a mountain stream
Natural as uncarved wood
Floating high like a gull
Unfathomable like muddy water
How can we fathom this muddiness?
Water becomes clear through stillness
How can we become still?
By moving with the stream
VI 10
Illustration Of A Tao Imprint
He stands apart
Serene
Curiously observing
He stands quietly
Looking forlorn
Like an infant who has not yet
learned to know what to smile at
He is a little sad for what he sees
While others enjoy their possessions
he lazily drifts, a homeless
donothing, owning nothing
Or he moves slowly close to the land
While others are crisp and definite
he seems to be indecisive
He does not seem to be making his way
in the world
He is different
A wise infant nursing at the breast
of all life
Inside
VI 11
Keep In Touch
The TAO flows everywhere
Keep in touch
And be at home
Everywhere
He who loses the contact is alone
Everywhere
Keeping in touch with the TAO
Is called
Harmony
VI 12
Use Your Knowledge Of Nature's Law
Nature's way is to leave no residue
All is absorbed
Therefore we treasure the "least of men"
All belongs
All is salvaged
Nothing is rejected
This is called stealing the light.....
Nature's subtle secret
VI 13
The Conscious Application Of Strength
Force recoils
But
The time comes when there is
nothing to do
Except act consciously
With courage
VI 14
Victory Celebration
Celebrate your victory
with funeral rites
for your slain illusions
Wear some black at your wedding
VI 15
Along The Grain
The Tao is nameless
Like uncarved wood
As soon as it is carved
Then there are names
Carve carefully
And
Along the grain
VI 16
He Who Knows The Center Endures
He who knows the outside is clever
He excells life less
He who knows the center endures
He lives inlight end
He who masters, gains robot strength
He overpowers
He who comes to the center has
flowering strength
He is informed
Faith of consciousness is freedom
Hope of consciousness is strength
Love of consciousness evokes the same in return
Faith of seed frees
Hope of seed flowers
Love of seed grows
VI 17
Walk Carefully When You Are Among
"holy men" and
"righteous" deeds
Distract from the internal
"Learned men"
Distract from
Natural wisdom
Professional knowhow
Addicts people to the contrived
And the external
Be respectful and compassionate
But walk carefully when you are among
learned men
holy men
doctors
government officials
reporters
publishers
professors
religious leaders
psychologists
rich men
social scientists
women with beautiful faces
artists and writers
men who
charge fees
city men
movie makers
men who want to help you
men who want you to help them
Christians and Jews
For such as these
However well meaning
Place you on their chessboard
Addict you to their externals
Distract you from the
TAO within
The lesson of the TAO is more likely to be found among
gardeners
hermits
mountain men
smiling eccentrics
men who build their own homes
children
parents who learn from their children
loafers
amateur musicians
serene Psychotics
animals
men who look at sunsets
men who walk in the woods
beautiful women
cooks
men who sit by the fire
wanderers
men who make bread
couples who have been in love for years
unemployed men
smiling men with bad reputations